Last night, CNBC aired its much-touted documentary, “Marijuana Inc.”Â It was a decidedly mixed bag.

It was a portrait of an industry that is huge and thriving, despite the energetic efforts of assorted law enforcement agencies to “eradicate” it. No sane person could watch the program and come away thinking that present government efforts to curb marijuana production or use are working.Â With California’s Mendocino County as the focus, the crashing failure of the war on marijuana was on vivid display.

Tonight at 8:40 p.m. Eastern time, MPP director of government relations Aaron Houston will debate former Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson on “CNBCÂ Reports.” The debate airs right before the premier of CNBC’s documentary about the marijuana business, “Marijuana Inc.: Inside America’s Pot Industry.” The live debate will only be shown once (the documentary will repeat at 1 a.m. Eastern), but will also be available on CNBC’s Web site.

Unfazed by three consecutive legal defeats, the California counties of San Bernardino and San DiegoÂ last weekÂ asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their legal challenge to the stateâs 12-year-old medical marijuana law.Â The 47-page petition â drafted on the publicâs dime â is a last ditch effort by the two embattled counties to continue their policy of arresting medical marijuana patients even when the patients are in full compliance with state law.

Their reasoning? Well, all marijuana is illegal under federal law and states do not have the authority to set their own marijuana policies â according to these two rogue counties anyway. Never mind the fact that not a single judge has sided with the counties and that the U.S. Supreme Court has recently denied review of another California ruling which held that local police should enforce state â not federal â law.

This ongoing lawsuit is clearly unpopular with California voters, who overwhelmingly support medical marijuana access. Indeed, scores of citizens have pled with both county boards of supervisors urging them to drop the challenge over the years, and 78% of San Diego voters thought the lawsuit was a waste of money before it was even filed. But these local politicians have apparently determined that fighting this uphill battle is a wise use of public funds, regardless of Californiaâs unprecedented budget crisis.

It does look like the San Bernardino supervisors might be becoming wary of defending their legal challenge, as it appears they violatedÂ Californiaâs open meetings law in order to avoid explaining themselves to the public.

San Bernardino’s supervisors are no strangers to controversy. In fact, former supervisor and outspoken opponent of medical marijuana Bill Postmus is currently facing charges for methamphetamine possession.

Like millions of Americans, I choked up watching you take office Tuesday. And like hundreds of millions — maybe billions — around the world, I watched and listened to your inaugural address, riveted by the moment.

One line jumped out at me: “We will extend a hand,” you said, “if you are willing to unclench your fist.” Your words were directed at hostile governments around the world, but they also embody how hundreds of thousands of suffering Americans view their own government. Read the rest of this entry »

You wouldn’t know it from their Web site, but it turns out the White House drug czar’s office is legally required to provide the public with facts that are, well, factual. Under the Data Quality act, all government agencies, including the Office of National Drug Control Policy, are responsible for “ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information.”

You could print out the material on ONDCP’s site, throw a dart at the printout, and probably hit an assertion that’s at least suspect. We picked one we found particularly egregious â the demonstrably false title of the drug czar’s publication, “Marijuana: The Greatest Cause of Illegal Drug Abuse.”

Voting on change.orgâs âIdeas for Change in Americaâ came to a close today with âLegalize the Medical and Recreational Use of Marijuanaâ coming in as the most popular idea. The top ten ideas will be presented to President-elect Obama during a press conference on Friday.

Change.gov, Obamaâs official transition Web site, has twice opened up voting in a similar feature called âOpen for Questions.â Each time, a question about marijuana policy reached the top ten. And each time, the transition team brushed off the question by simply stating that “President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.â It will be interesting to see how he responds this time, as the question includes medical marijuana, something Obama has been fairly supportive of in the past.

As of 5:00 p.m. today, the marijuana policy question had received 19,530 votes â 4,500 more than âAppoint Secretary of Peace in Department of Peace and Non-Violence,â which came in second on the list.

In addition, change.gov has opened voting in a new online forum called the âCitizenâs Briefing Book.â âEnding Marijuana Prohibitionâ is currently the most popular idea.

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The opinions expressed by our viewers and posters do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Marijuana Policy Project. These views are those of their individual authors alone. MPP does not condone or support the illegal use of marijuana. We do encourage open and frank discussion, but if a comment has been posted that is in some way significantly inappropriate, please email us at [email protected] to report it. Thank you, and we're looking forward to what you think!

"The amount of money and of legal energy being given to prosecute hundreds of thousands of Americans who are caught with a few ounces of marijuana in their jeans simply makes no sense - the kindest way to put it. A sterner way to put it is that it is an outrage, an imposition on basic civil liberties and on the reasonable expenditure of social energy."
Author William F. Buckley, Jr., The Albuquerque Journal, June 9, 1993